Distance education and online learning continue to move from the margins to the mainstream. UPCEA members are leading our institutions and creating new and innovative learning opportunities for students. This often makes UPCEA members integral partners to the development and implementation of institutional strategies for distance education and online learning, as well as the experts on operational models for online administration.
With this shift comes a responsibility to continually re-think our services and structures for learners, not just at the administrative level, but about the learning experience in general. We must strive to understand learner expectations and examine the barriers to their goals and aspirations. We must continue to push the boundaries of cost savings for these learners and provide pathways for career mobility while still supporting our faculty as they design innovative learning experiences.
Presentations involving multiple organizations and international partners, as well as content applicable to many institutions or credit-bearing scenarios (credit, noncredit, alternative credential, etc.), are strongly encouraged.
Proposals for this track may include (but are not limited to) the following topics:
Leadership, administration, and operations of distance/online education:
Team approaches to creating and managing online operations
Balancing operational goals and resources
Managing change in your organization
Implementing data-driven decisions to inform practices and processes
Supporting new and innovative learning opportunities
Centralized, decentralized, and hybrid operational models in distance education
Institutional strategic planning for distance/online education
Building out student support services for distance/online students
Attracting and retaining online learning professionals
Leveraging partnerships with third parties to improve operations
Regulatory compliance and the impact on distance education operations
Addressing challenges specific to minority-serving institutions and small/specialized institutions
Supporting online teaching and learning:
Competency and mastery-based approaches to course design
Exploring learning analytics
Leveraging in-house teams to create new learning experiences
Effective faculty development models
Emerging trends and practices in online teaching professional development
Managing accessible instructional materials at course, program, and institutional levels
Learn more about the Online Administration Network.